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Some people might point to a possible undisclosed injury as the reason for Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander’s recent struggles, but at least one person isn’t buying that.

Jonathan Lehman of the New York Post writes that Verlander’s struggles, along with those of other athletes, could be from dating supermodel Kate Upton.

Lehman uses both Mark Sanchez and Blake Griffin as examples of athletes prior to Verlander who didn’t perform well while supposedly dating the Sports Illustrated swimsuit model.

“If Verlander has been jinxed — or distracted, more likely — into the worst stretch of his career by girlfriend Kate Upton, it would not be the first time an athlete had encountered a major slump around the time he was romantically linked with the swimsuit pin-up,” Lehman writes. “Call it the Kate Upton Effect. In addition to Verlander, the supermodel’s ‘victims’ may include former Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez and NBA All-Star Blake Griffin.”

Lehman goes on to write Sanchez was first linked to Upton in 2011, right around the time the former USC quarterback’s career started to plummet, and that Griffin played his worst of four NBA seasons while dating her.

Verlander and Upton go back to as early as 2012, and as Lehman points out, the former American League MVP has posted a career-worst 4.98 ERA this season.

It’s a crazy accusation, as most athletes go through slumps at some point in their careers. But we’ll just have to wait and see if the coincidence is enough to turn athletes away from the blonde bombshell.